Unless you haven't already guessed, this play is about Vincent Van Gogh.

Based on his life as a young man before he became an artist and lodged with a widowed teacher in Brixton, the play has had successful runs on Broadway and the West End.

Directed by Richard Eyre, it won an Olivier Award and was nominated for a Tony Award for Best New Play.

Having won three Best Actress Awards at the Oliviers, the Evening Standard Awards and the Critics Circle and a nomination for a Tony Award as Best Actress, it's Clare Higgins as Ursula who has stolen the show.

Clare is, however, modest about her success.

"You never expect it, it's always a shock. Not that it isn't fantastic," she says.

"But probably by virtue of being completely unexpected as well."

In the play, Ursula and Vincent embark on a affair when they recognise a shared tendency to become depressed.

"It's about the relationship between two human beings who share a certain darkness inside them," she says.

"I think the sex is incidental. My character, Ursula, is a depressive and Vincent is only 20 and about to become an artist.

"As we know, he went on to suffer from depression and killed himself.

"But all that comes with an enormous amount of light and creativity.

"Ursula is a woman who says to herself 'I don't have any talent but I can nurture talent'. She is a great catalyst for him."

Clare made her mark on the theatre world with depictions of larger-than-life characters such as Cleopatra and Alexandra del Lago in Tennessee Williams's Sweet Bird Of Youth.

Therefore, it might appear that, superfically at least, the role of the somewhat dowdy Ursula, who still wears the black she donned when her husband died, is something of a mismatch.

"Someone even asked me if it was awful to be wandering round in this drab dress but the way I feel about it is that it's all the same titanic emotions going on.

"Women are always in drag to a certain extent and people judge you for what you look like.

"What I really like about this play is though it doesn't look like it. Inside, Ursula feels like Cleopatra.

"This is also a very gentle play and on the surface, it seems there isn't a lot going on.

"This young man arrives and then he goes away again. Within that is a whole gamut of human experience going on.

"It's all about feelings and I think that's what the audience takes away from it. It allows them to feel."

Clare also thinks the play works because it is based in historical fact.

"So few people know Vincent actually lived in Brixton," she says.

"We actually met the descendants and they came to the play in London. It was strange to meet the great, great, great-grandchildren of Van Gogh."

Although the play has been running for more than a year and a half, Clare hasn't lost interest in it.

"It's such a great play, I can quite honestly say I've never got bored once.

"It's also had so many incarnations, though it looks like this might be the last one. I'm sure I will be sad when it ends, because it has been such a big part of my life and it has given me a lot.

"It was the first time I had even been to New York.

"It was unbelievable. I just wandered around Manhattan, thinking I'm sure I've seen that somewhere before.

"Every corner you turn is exactly like being on a film set."

One of the other big bonuses for Clare is the play is coming to Brighton.

"I love the place," she says.

"It's the high spot of the tour. It's such a fun place. I always go clubbing whenever I come.

"I used to have a great aunt Gertrude who used to live in Hove, who we used to go and stay with.

"Hove was always so terribly well-mannered and ever so quiet.

"Of course, just along the coast was Brighton which was considered a hot bed of sedition and I was never allowed to go. But I can't wait to make up for it now!"

Starts 7.45pm, Thursday and Saturday matinees at 2.30pm, tickets £15 to £23.50.

Call 01273 328488 for further details.